19598: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Worried U.S. Haitians unable to phone relatives (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Worried U.S. Haitians unable to phone relatives

By Rafael A. Olmeda, Tal Abbady and Karla Shores
Staff Writers
Posted March 1 2004

Marie Solange Exa worked alone on Sunday at Le Café in Delray Beach, taking
orders and serving food while overhearing a group of men arguing about the
latest turn of events in Haiti. She tried not to worry about her children,
who are still in the troubled Caribbean nation.

She had not heard from the four, the oldest 21 and the youngest 15, in two
weeks.

For thousands of South Florida residents, the turmoil in Haiti and the
departure of President Jean Bertrand Aristide are not about foreign affairs
but about family members, friends and business investments. About 300,000
Haitians live in South Florida.

Exa, 47, came to the United States in 2001. She had been working as a vendor
at Léogâne, near the capital city of Port-au-Prince, with several other
women and said she was forced to pay off gangs of pro-Aristide militants,
known as chimère, who threatened to disrupt her business. When she refused
to keep paying, they raided her home and beat her and her father severely.
Her father suffered a stroke and died days after the attack, she said.

She stretched out her arms, which bear the brown marks of her beating, to
show she was not exaggerating.

Exa's four children scattered to live with friends and relatives in Haiti.

"Nobody is controlling the country now, so it's impossible to tell what will
be," she said, her voice breaking.

"I'm not happy or unhappy about it. I'm just worried about my children," she
said as news from a Creole station blared from the radio behind her. "I
don't know what to think. I haven't talked to them, and I am so afraid."

Aldy Castor, 58, of Fort Lauderdale, was fortunate to be able to contact his
family in Port-au-Prince immediately after he learned Aristide fled the
country early Sunday morning.

"They were scared," Castor said. "There's no protection, no police, no
officers of the law. They barricaded themselves in the house and prayed. In
the neighborhood, people were passing in trucks and shooting, but at least
in my family the bullets didn't go into the house."

Castor prayed Sunday, first that his family would be protected, and second
that the hotel he's building in Aquin remains a sound financial investment
for his family.

"As soon as the new government is in place and they start restoring order,
the population will return to going about their business," Castor said.

Disrupted phone service made it impossible for Jocelyn Joseph, 44, a Delray
Beach housekeeper, to reach her parents and sisters in Cap-Haïtien.

"It's total chaos over there. And now, with Aristide gone, you just don't
know what's going to happen," she said. "You don't know who's good and who's
bad."

While waving Haitian flags in triumph during a carnival parade in Miami on
Sunday, many Haitians lamented not being able to make contact with family
members.

A Miami student, Pierre Gabriel, said he hadn't talked to any of his 20
relatives in Gonaïves for a month. Gabriel said he tries daily to reach
someone but fails. He said he is resigned to thinking he might never hear
from them again.

"I sent goods to them 15 days ago, but I don't know if they got it," Gabriel
said, watching a boisterous crowd move by slowly on a colorful float on
Biscayne Boulevard. "It's an unbelievable feeling. I've always been
optimistic, but thinking about my family being in danger makes me really
sad."

Nadege Cadet, a Miami hairdresser, said she was happy she was able to reach
her 65-year-old mother in Port-au-Prince on Saturday night. She said her
mother told her she feels safer now that Aristide is gone.

"Aristide is a problem," said Cadet. "Before the chimère could come any day
and push you out of your house. Now, I know it will get better."

Some at the parade, particularly those who supported Aristide, were
reluctant to speak openly about their relatives in Haiti because they didn't
want to endanger family members.

Obas Jean-Rene, who has been in Miami for three years, was careful as he
spoke with other Haitians on 54th Street in Little Haiti.

Jean-Rene, who has three children in Cap-Haïtien, said he last spoke to his
family two weeks ago. "I've been thinking about them. I'm worried," he said.

Staff writer Thomas Monnay contributed to this report.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4207.

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